WARM WATER UNDER A RED BRIDGE, the last film from Shohei Immamura, which provoked mainly perplexity upon release, is sympathetically showcased at Serene Velocity.

Flickhead makes a very welcome contribution, bringing a documentary flavour to the proceedings with a look at Varick Frissell’s THE VIKING.

More from Andreas at Pussy Goes Grrr, exploring the tragedy and hope of Mizoguchi’s final opus, STREET OF SHAME.

Gareth’s Movie Diary rides with THE COMANCHEROS, the last movie from golden age giant Michael Curtiz. And a handsome piece it looks, too!

55 DAYS AT PEKING, arguably the final completed feature from (in part) Nicholas Ray, is under the microscope at Mr. K’s Geel Cornucopia. And it takes us into quite a lovely place!

My own new entry is right below this one. NOT an appreciation of LOLA MONTES, merely a sidelong observation or two.

Arch-Shadowplayer David Ehrenstein, over at the Fablog, presents Pasolini’s 1966 anthology piece CHE COSA SONA LE NUVOLE?, in which giant puppets enact Othello… in a Late Show first, you can not only read about the film over at his place, but watch it too.

Brandon again (don’t stop, Brandon!) at Brandon’s Movie Memory explores Jimmy Stewart’s last theatrical feature, an odder-than-odd Japanese nature film shot in Africa.

Ed Howard at Only the Cinema takes on RIO LOBO, a sad note for Howard Hawks to end on, but certainly a recognizable variation on his usual themes and characters. Beautiful screen-shots, making me regret seeing it on an old VHS. A revisit might be in order: I remember enjoying Sherry Lansing’s unlikely turn as a vengeful Mexican.

C. Jerry Kutner writes for Bright Lights Film about James Whale’s difficult-to-see final project, HELLO OUT THERE. Anybody got a copy of that movie?

Pierre Fournier at Frankensteinia revisits FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL, the last film from Terence Fisher, the last Hammer Frankenstein, the last Peter Cushing appearance as the Baron, and one of the last Hammer releases altogether.

At Pussy Goes Grrr, an excellent analysis and appreciation of Eric Rohmer’s THE ROMANCE OF ASTREA AND CELADON can be found. A new discovery for me, this blog promises riches!

Jaime Grijalba looks at the last films of Bunuel and Ozu in a Spanish-language entry at Exodus 8:2. Thrilled to have something non-English-language here, even if I can’t read it myself!

At Deeper Into Movies, Brandon’s Movie Memory connects with COLD LAZARUS, the last teleplay of Dennis Potter, starring the frozen, severed head of Albert Finney, and executed “under the strictest writing deadline: to finish the story before his imminent death.” A terrific piece which exemplifies the virtues of this fun, intelligent blog — a sympathetic account which acknowledges the flaws in a film even while seeing beyond them to possibly hidden virtues.

At Boiling Sand, Doug Bonner delves into Herbert Wilcox’s THE LADY IS A SQUARE, exploring how a somewhat stilted film can nevertheless serve as a touching farewell to a star and director. A really beautiful piece.

Another Shadowplay entry by guest blogger and regular Shadowplayer Judy Dean can be found below ~

Leni, a successful director in the expressionist school, whose best-known work in his native Germany was WAXWORKS, made two celebrated films in Hollywood, THE MAN WHO LAUGHS, and THE CAT AND THE CANARY. Like Murnau, he died before he could make a full sound film, but his last movie does contain a few early soundie moments: background crowd chatter and the like.

The movie is also a cornucopia of trick titles: intertitles swim into focus, zoom out at us, or appear shrouded in cobwebs, mirroring dramatic developments in the story. And the Bunce brothers, owners of the haunted theatre where the action transpires, even get a duplicate title where everything is said twice.

A proto-Una O’Connor gets some shrieking in.

THE LAST WARNING is a comedy thriller very much in the vein of THE CAT AND THE CANARY, and it stars Laura LaPlante, who appeared in THE CAT. It was apparently cited by James Whale as an influence on his comedy horror film THE OLD DARK HOUSE. Indeed, Leni has one character enter the room backwards, like Colin Clive in JOURNEY’S END and Boris Karloff in FRANKENSTEIN, and at one point shoots Laura LaPlante from three increasingly close angles, for dramatic emphasis, foreshadowing the way Whale presents the Frankenstein monster’s first appearance, and also the first entrance of THE INVISIBLE MAN in his bandages, and Colin Clive in ONE MORE RIVER.

A very BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN lighting effect.

And while THE LAST WARNING doesn’t have the same black-hearted, sepulchral wit as Whale’s best work, it’s more amusing than most horror comedies of the period, and in formal terms its very inventive indeed. As with THE CAT AND THE CANARY, Leni has fun with multiple images, spooky camera movements that creep in or out, with a slight lurch, upon his array of red herrings (Torben Meyer, Mack Swain and Slim Summerville are among the throng of grotesques and stereotypes).

Here is Laura LaPlante nude, for no real reason.

GENUINELY scary masked killer!

With its spookshow effects (at one point, the killer scales the walls of the theatre at Keystone Kop velocity, and later he appears in a balcony for an instant before dropping from view at a speed faster than gravity could account for) and florid stylistic touches, THE LAST WARNING is still a very entertaining movie, with a sensationally exciting climax, a barrage of tricks and tropes from Leni — it’s to be deeply regretted that he never got to apply his zany skills to a talking picture.

The blogathon is now open! Send me links in the comments section and I’ll make a post about them.